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November’s Linen and Threads SAL section was pretty intriguing due to the intricacy of the intersecting motifs in the design. I love how it turned out!

I enjoyed the time I spent picking my colors. The little bit of blue that I used does not really stand out. I didn’t think it would blend in that well with the green, but that’s still fine with me. (I’m a bit surprised that I’m not disappointed with this. :P)

The stitching, not to be left behind, was fun too, especially after I got the hang of the pattern and didn’t have to keep going back to the chart. Stitching while listening to books or binge watching serials – ah the bliss!

I also discovered that the new red – the one that I started using after my earlier pink ran out – does not bleed! (I was kinda sure it would, though.) While that is good, it makes the overall project look a bit inconsistent now. Do I run an ink pen over the reds to force those parts to bleed? 😀

There’s a lot of space for the December section (ooh, you can see the hem stitch border at the bottom of the picture) and I’m hoping it’s not too much to stitch. Fingers crossed.

Knitting

As for the blouse I’m knitting for my mom, I’m done with the sleeves, (and they do look beautiful), but I’ve not made too much progress on the body. I’m hoping I’ll be done before this month ends so I can finally start on a brioche sweater – one of the knitting goals I had for this year was to learn brioche stitch. I did try a brioche sample a couple of months ago, but I’ve already forgotten how to go about it, 🙂 so a project will help me remember it better.

Only one month of knitting, crocheting and stitching remains before the year ends. Have you started thinking about next year already? (I haven’t.)

I think this runner is the first ever cross-stitch project in my life that I diligently stuck with until I finished it. 🙂 It now adorns our coffee table.

Cross-stitched coffee table runner

Like I mentioned earlier, the different styles of the motifs and their connectors do work well together. I made a whole lot of mistakes along the way, and a whole lot of fixes and readjusting of patterns resulted. In the end, though, when I see the runner doing its thing, I forget all of that, and just feel happy and proud of my creation. ❤

Like this:

Still cross-stitching, no knitting. I’m making good progress on the coffee table runner. This is how a single motif looks, and I’ll have three of them across the runner.

I came up with this pattern inspired by a Pinterest pin for biscornu (which, since a long time, leads to a site under maintenance though) and a super-simple dots-and-curves Rangoli that I gave a Celtic look to. (Here on Pinterest are some dots-and-curves Rangolis of higher intricacy.) This combination might appear weird 🙂 but for me, it is a happy combination of two different styles and looks, and best of all, it seems to work.

One thing I didn’t count on was how confusing working on this pattern would be. I’ve made umpteen mistakes already, and ended up correcting them (or just letting them be because they won’t be noticeable much.) This is definitely not a binge-watch project, though that’s how I’ve been working on it. I really should be thankful for the rewind button so I can catch the dialogue or action that I missed while I became absorbed in the stitch count — or worse, realized that I’ve made a mistake yet again and tried to figure out how many stitches I’ll have to undo. 😛

I’m having a lot of fun with this runner, though, and seeing my stitching quality improve as I work is a bonus. 🙂 It’s a welcome break from knitting, and I think I’ll attempt a cross-stitch project now and then when I’m done with this one — maybe a runner, maybe something smaller.

More than eight months ago, I’d started working on a coffee table runner, wanting to make cross-stitch motifs on it. I’d made an edging on some aida cloth of suitable size, and actually came up with a pattern after some pinning bouts on Pinterest caused flashes of inspiration, and then…

Nothing. I stuffed the cloth in my cupboard, and continued knitting and making jewelry and stuff. Now and then, I’d remember this project and would feel guilty that I haven’t continued working on it, but not guilty enough to take it out of its prison. Well, until recently.

It’s finally out. And I finished making a border. My cross-stitch is rusty, and the border isn’t very neat, but I’m getting better as I continue, and the motif is turning out neater — not so bad at all. It’s going to be a while before I finish this, but I’m not feeling like knitting much these days, and I’ll be working on this instead, so it’ll go much faster than the zero progress that I made all this while. 😀

Like this:

I crocheted this circular motif for a joint project — a tote bag that my sister and I decided to make. Though I say it’s a joint project, the sewing of the piece, which is the more tedious work, is handled by my sister. (She sews really well.)

I was watching a movie while I worked on this motif and am not even aware of what exactly I did, but I’m pretty pleased with this piece. 🙂 I started out with a magic loop, and worked circles of chain stitches, single crochet and double crochet until it got big enough. My mom loves the center of the motif, and I agree it looks good, but only because the rest of the piece supports it.

My sister will embellish it with beads before affixing it to the tote. I can’tWe can’t wait to use it! [Update: Here’s the tote bag. I love it!]